PITTSBURGH (March 11, 2009)—Ron Hoover, United Steelworkers executive president and head of the union's Rubber/Plastics Industry Conference, plans to step down from his position effective June 1.
He made the official announcement at the R/PIC's pre-negotiations policy conference in Pittsburgh March 10. Contracts with the Big Three tire makers—Goodyear, Bridgestone and Michelin—expire later this year.
The 45-year veteran of the United Rubber Workers and—following a 1995 merger—the USW, Hoover was the head of the R/PIC since Sept. 1, 2005, succeeding John Sellers. Prior to his appointment, he served as Sellers' assistant, a URW staff member, a bargaining committee coordinator and a member and two-term president of Local 307 in Topeka, Kan. That local is made up of hourly workers at Goodyear's Topeka tire plant.
Hoover will be succeeded by Stan Johnson, currently director of USW District 9 in Nashville, Tenn. Like Hoover, Johnson's roots are in the URW, and he also previously served as the USW's organizing director.